In the 1963 film “The Great Escape”, we were rooting for McQueen, Bronson, Attenborough and crew to safely escape the Nazi prison camp. When it comes to air fleeing our homes, our hope is exactly the opposite. Codes and customers are pushing for more energy efficient homes, and that means tighter envelopes. Tighter homes have significant impacts...

Moisture is one of the most damaging elements a building can encounter and is the leading cause of construction litigation. In a recent post for Professional Builder Magazine, Johns Mansville Principal Building Scientist J.R. Babineau talks about the role insulation plays in managing moisture in a wall system and why the issue is becoming...

Back in March, we wrote about the wide array of insulation and air sealing approaches used by homes that meet DOE’s Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) specification. Among the approaches that can work is the use of fiberglass batts. Mutual Housing California demonstrated how to use batts to achieve ZERH certification in their Mutual Housing at Spring...

Over the first half of 2016, The Insulation Institute conducted qualitative research[1] with builders exploring a few areas, including the changing dynamic between home builders and home buyers. The “Google Era” has changed the way homebuyers enter into the buying process and is reshaping their interactions with builders. They are researching...

Yes. The answer is simple, so this could be the shortest blog ever. However, given the misinformation that is out there it is worth explaining why R-value is in fact a good measure of thermal performance and dispelling some common misconceptions about it.

KB Homes, a top 10 builder nationally, has firmly established itself as a leader in energy efficient building. In April of this year, it won its sixth consecutive Energy Star Partner of the Year Award. Additionally, in 2013, 2014 and 2015 it received Department of Energy Housing Innovation Awards for its Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) construction....